Jerusalem, 8 November, 2026 (TPS-IL) — A passenger on an Arkia flight from Tbilisi, Georgia, to Ben-Gurion International Airport went on a violent rampage Sunday, charging the cockpit door and trying to break in while shouting that the plane had no pilots or engines.
The drama unfolded about an hour after Flight IZ418 took off at 2 p.m. The passenger, a man in his twenties traveling with his parents, repeatedly battered the reinforced cockpit door, yelling that the aircraft needed to be saved. Flight attendants and family members initially struggled to restrain him before other passengers joined the effort.
Maxim Babitsky, a former deputy mayor of Rishon Lezion, eventually subdued the man and helped move him to the rear of the aircraft, where relatives worked to calm him.
Arkia said the crew handled the incident and that flight safety was never endangered.
